New Pain Therapies

What is Pain?

An unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage.

Pain is always subjective – only you can experience your pain.

“Pain is whatever the experiencing person says it is, existing whenever he says it does.”

Typically, pain is characterized by its intensity, location and duration.

Pain is a major symptom in many medical conditions, and can significantly interfere with a person’s quality of life and general functioning.

What is Chronic Pain?

Is pain extending beyond six months, but can be considered chronic pain from around three to six months, depending on the individuals case.

It is pain that continues beyond the expected healing time.

The most common forms of chronic pain, along with arthritis, found in New Zealand are musculoskeletal pain disorders, such as :- Low back pain, Neck pain, Whole-body pain (fibromyalgia).

Pain specialists often refer to two types of chronic pain: physiological or ‘ good pain ‘ which acts as a warning function, where identifying the cause of the pain can lead to a cure: and non-physiological pain or ‘ bad pain’ which has no function and requires investigation of the nervous system to fully understand the underlying pathology and meaning of the pain.

One in eight New Zealanders is living with chronic pain.

The prevalence of pain is marginally higher among women (13%) than men (12%), but prevalence differs greatly by age with only 5% of under-35-year-olds experiencing chronic pain compared to almost 25% of over-65-year-olds.

Disability and chronic pain don’t necessarily correlate. Some people have a fear that pain means more damage is occurring, but this is rarely the case.

Research and people’s experience consistently show that being active reduces pain and increases
well-being.